City Hall spares residents fee in new garbage disposal plans
A garbage collection lorry in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL |
What you need to know:
The new plan will see the city zoned into clusters of estates, each to be manned by a single firm, in what will lock out many garbage collectors.
City Hall had earlier mentioned that residents will pay a monthly fee based on the average income levels of residents in a given area, sparking controversy about the county’s failure to provide the services itself.
Nairobi will have 17 garbage collection zones that will be demarcated on constituency boundaries.
Nairobi residents will be spared a garbage fee after City Hall dropped a charge that was initially set under the new refuse collection plan.
The new plan will see the city zoned into clusters of estates, each to be manned by a single firm, in what will lock out many garbage collectors.
City Hall had earlier mentioned that residents will pay a monthly fee based on the average income levels of residents in a given area, sparking controversy about the county’s failure to provide the services itself.
Nairobi is now seeking firms to collect garbage in 12 constituencies and has committed to pay the waste collectors per tonnage.
“The contractor shall attract payment from Nairobi City County on an agreed rate per tonnes collected, transported and disposed at the designated dumpsite,” reads the bid documents for the new plans that City Hall has drawn up.
This marks a U-turn from the initial plan that was to see Kilimani and Kileleshwa households pay between Sh500 and Sh750 a month and those in Kangemi Sh150.
Sifa Cleaning Services, the firm contracted to collect garbage in the three estates, was to pay City Hall a commission of 15 per cent of the collections. Nairobi will have 17 garbage collection zones that will be demarcated on constituency boundaries.
Already bids for 12 constituencies have been issued as it races to streamline private garbage collection in Nairobi that has been in the hands of hundreds of firms. Currently, private contractors negotiate deals and pricing directly with households.
The 12 zones are Embakasi Central, Embakasi East, Emabakasi North, Embakasi West, Kamukunji and Kasarani.
Others are Kibra, Makadara, Mathare, Roysambu, Ruaraka, Starehe. Bids are yet to be issued Dagoretti North, Dagoretti South, Lang'ata, Westlands and Embakasi South.
“NCC will make all possible efforts to monitor and inspect non-licensed PSPs in order to secure the exclusive right of the contractor.”
This transfers the responsibility of keeping the city clean from county employees to the outsourced companies.
The rapid population growth and the expansion of Nairobi have made it difficult for City Hall to make the city clean, paving the way for the private sector service providers.
Less than half of the garbage generated in the city is collected and transported to the county’s sole dumping site in Dandora.
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